Student protests turn violence in Medan, Mataram

Student protests turn violence in Medan, Mataram

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of students here and in at least seven
other cities across the country staged rallies yesterday and on
Monday in protest at the New Order administration's handling of
the deepening economic crisis.

Violence leading to injuries of both students and security
officers were reported during Monday's protests in Mataram, West
Nusa Tenggara, and Medan, the capital of North Sumatra.

In Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java, Pontianak in West
Kalimantan, Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara, Purwokerto in Central
Java, and in Yogyakarta, student protests proceeded peacefully.

Yesterday, 200 Moslem students staged a brief free-speech
forum in the compound of the provincial legislators office in
Surabaya, although the office was closed for the Islamic new year
holiday at the time.

In Pontianak yesterday, scores of Moslem students staged a
rally in the grounds of the town's Mujahiddin mosque. They called
on national leaders to perform Islah, changing something bad by
performing a good action.

In Mataram, at least three students and one police officer
sustained injuries when Monday's rally deteriorated into a clash.
Four students were arrested and taken away for interrogation,
according to Antara.

The injured were taken to Mataram general hospital intensive
care unit for treatment, it said.

The news agency also said the scuffle between students and
security personnel broke out when police tried to push students
back onto their campus after they successfully marched along a
public street for over one kilometer.

Both parties engaged in stone throwing and several gunshots
were reportedly fired into the air to disperse thousands of
marching students, the news agency said.

The protesting students were from Mataram University,
Muhammadiyah University, and Islamic College (STAIN).

During their protest, they condemned the government for
leading the country into a recession which has seen the price of
daily essentials soar.

Mataram University Rector Mulyanto was seen among the students
some time after the clash broke out, soothing them and asking
them to return to the campus.

In Medan, several student protests took place separately at
North Sumatra University, North Sumatra Islamic University, North
Sumatra Muhammadiyah University, Medan Institute of Technology
and St. Thomas Catholic University.

There was a repeat of Friday's scenes when students threw
Molotov cocktails at security personnel, who responded by firing
volleys of teargas near the entrance to the North Sumatra
University.

"We don't intend to shoot the students, but we don't want them
to get too near to us," Medan Police Chief Lt. Col. Nono Priyono,
who was at the scene, said.

Over one hundred students standing 200 meters away from the
entrance gate mocked the officers, and threw stones and petrol
bombs, but retreated after tear gas canisters were fired.

North Sumatra police spokesman Lt. Col. Amrin Karim, told The
Jakarta Post yesterday that no students had been detained. He
added that "only eight students" had been taken in for
questioning and all had subsequently been released.

In Kupang on Monday, 50 students from Nusa Cendana University,
Widya Mandira Catholic University, Artha Wacana Christian
University, and Muhammadiyah University staged a protest at the
El Tari airport.

The students demanded that Minister of Education Wiranto
Arismunandar resign for failing to support student protests.
The controversial minister was reportedly on a visit to the
province, but students later found out this was not the case.

Another protest demanding Wiranto's resignation was staged in
Purwokerto, Central Java, on Wijaya Kusuma University campus.

Over 1,000 students, watched by 100 riot police, also demanded
the resignation of President Soeharto, whose New Order
administration they said had failed to lead the nation out of the
crisis.

Popular aspirations

In Jakarta on Monday, 200 students from Syarif Hidayatullah
Institute for Islamic Studies called for reform and the
resignation of Soeharto after attending a discussion featuring
economist Emil Salim, noted Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid, and
Golkar executive Irsyad Sudiro.

The students demonstrated briefly before they dispersed to say
afternoon prayers.

During the discussion, Nurcholish defended the student
demonstrations which he described as "politics which heeded
popular aspirations", and something that should not be belittled
by the government.

The scholar said it would be unfair for the government to
dismiss the protests by saying the students had failed to provide
suggestions on how to solve the crisis.

The students were voicing the people's aspirations and the
demonstrations were a moral movement which the government must
heed, he said. (21/45/nur/rid/aan)